This brew was waiting for me on the shelves of a fancy Finnish supermarket in the heart of Moscow. It's standard 33cl light green bottle and fairly plain label were quite resistible, but the slogan on the label ("Das fabelhafte Bier" - the fabulous beer) made me chuckle, so I bought it. Rice is listed as an ingredient. Best before 1/9/04, I opened it on 9/4/03.

Poured a standard clear gold with a small head of reasonable longevity. The nose is malty, with an undercurrent of metallic hops. The mouth is a bit too carbonated, with a medium body. The taste opens with a touch of malt, but the main sensation is the fairly harsh, metallic bitterness from the hops. It's crisp, but perhaps a bit too crisp - more malt would probably take the edge off, but then again, the rice should have done that already. The bitterness lingers into the aftertaste, where it becomes pretty pleasant. This is a pretty standard Germanic pils.